Children See, Children Do

As a parent now the end of my day is filled with a little more reflection than usual. Besides playing back the day’s recording I also review it for the good things and bad things I did as a parent. Times when I was patient instead of anxious. Times I was strict. Times I caved in. Times I just flat out made the wrong choice when dealing with a situation. You can read all the books you want but you just don’t know until you go through it. And you never learn unless you take the time to meditate and reflect in your own way. Supernanny techniques and child psychology have been invaluable but even then you have to synthesize all this information and your own childhood experiences. And then you go with your gut. And you have to notice the little things. I personally am real good at finding little faults in myself and beating myself up at the end of the day and wishing I could have the moments back. But the other day I noticed a simple little moment that made me feel very proud not only of my kid but myself as a parent. We were playing Wii Boxing, (Yes, you can tell it’s summer for me and I have free time when I start playing video games) and my three year old daughter was really interested. She decided she wanted to try. So we reset the game. She is fighting against the computer. The boxers are in their corners and waiting. I’m showing her the controls and how to punch. And I feel really awkward all of a sudden showing her this. And she confirms my feelings. The bell rings and the computer voice says “Ready…FIGHT!” My daughter, who has a pretty good vocabulary for her age, is a little confused as she looks at me and asks: “Dad, What does fight mean?” At that moment I felt humbled by her innocence and I was incredibly happy. In fact I was very close to stopping the game a la Willy Wonka, scooping her up like Charlie Bucket, and screaming “You won! You won! You did it!”
So yeah. That was a good moment.

I’ll leave you with this amazing video titled: “Children See, Children Do.”